THURLESTONE

AT Thurlestone Golf Club, the juniors were out in force again on Saturday afternoon for one of their Winter Saturday competitions for some great prize money.

All of their Saturday scores are recorded and the best cards are added up at the end of the winter season to find the best three juniors over the winter months.

This has proved a popular way of keeping their interest in the cold winter weeks and we must thank a dedicated group of parents for organising and running this competition.

The competition ends in April when juniors club nights take over each Friday afternoon at 5pm again run by parents and Professional Steve White and the other professionals Tracy Loveys and Jamie Knight in the Pro Shop.

The Saturday morning Juniors Academy has also begun lessons by the Professionals each Saturday morning to bring on more juniors into the club. We are very lucky to have such enthusiastic parents and professionals at Thurlestone.

There was an American Foursome competition at Thurlestone on Sunday 28 with 26 pairs taking part. The winners were Ashley Pigott & Stan Pigott with 42 points. They just edged out Ben Matley & Kevin Rogers with 41 points and David Eva & Steve Inch with 40 points.

There were 10 birdie twos scored and Ben Mately and Kevin Rogers scored three of them on the 3rd, 5th, and 6th holes so congratulations to them for an amazing achievement.

On Saturday, January 3, there were 57 men in teams of three taking part in the team Stableford competition on a lovely sunny day. The winners were Paul James (12), Simon Parsons (9) & Malcolm Swales (18) with 82 points from Darrell Day (6), Martin Oakes-Monger (15) & Mark Knight (11) with 79 points.

There were six twos scored with Darrell Day and Chris Jones getting two each.

On Sunday, January 4, there was a smaller entry of eight pairs entered in the Mixed Greensomes competition. The winners were Janice Croke & Tony Croke with 39 points.

In second place were Hayley Pepperrell & Steve Pepperrell with 36 points, on count back from Kaz Phillips & Martin Phillips also with 36 points.

There were two birdie twos by Graeme Fairley & Sheila Fairley and Kaz Phillips & Martin Phillips.

On Wednesday, January 7, 27 Thurlestone ladies signed up for the 3-ball team competition and Bowmaker qualifying competition. The weather was very cold but sunny and there were some good scores.

The winners were Jacky Jacobs (25), Janice Croke (23) & Wendy Stewart (16) with 64 points. Second were Jan Brooking (17), Jane Mahood (21) & Tricia Swindell (13) with 63 points on count back from Sally Huntley (19), Irene Lowry (13) & Margaret Ryan (6) also with 63 points.

There were just two birdie twos by Jacky Jacobs on the 6th hole and Kaz Phillips on the 13th hole.

The winning team will represent Thurlestone at the Bowmaker competition which in 2026 will be held at Dainton Park Golf Club and Yelverton Golf Club at different times of the year.

DARTMOUTH

The Arctic weather once again caused the cancellation of the ladies’ formal competition at Dartmouth, but sunshine the following day gave the opportunity for a fun roll up.

With the relaxed format there was time to consider some new golfing terms, including a further definition of “roughage”. For long, considered to define an important part of a healthy diet, it was now also the unfortunate impact of a golf ball entering the longer grass and its distance being curtailed and it finishing in a difficult lie. Yes, it’s bad - hopefully the better weather will come soon.

The only competition of the week was the men’s midweek 4-man team event with two scores to count.

Roy Baldwin had a storming round, coming in on fourteen holes, including chip-ins on the twelfth and seventeenth. A good score can often be wasted in a team competition but, fortunately, his teammates were providing good support, so his score was not in vain.

Brian Mushens contributed a good number of pars and also scored one of only two twos on the day, with Lee Marels having the other.

1st: Roy Baldwin, Phil Brooking, Philip Green & Brian Mushens - 86pts

2nd: Pete Hannaford, Nigel Osborne, Trevor Pretty & Paul Stubbs - 79pts

3rd: Andy Birss, Paul Brown, John Oldrieve & Bobby Wotton - 78pts on count back from

4th - John Cousins, John Garner, Rob Knight & Barrie O’Shea

DARTMOUTH SENIORS

The Dartmouth seniors’ event on Monday, January 12 was an individual Stableford with a free choice of tee shots from six white, blue and red tees, using the standard 95% course handicap allowance for equity. Blue tee stroke indexes were used for the competition.

After heavy rain the previous day and the remnants of last week’s storm, there was some doubt about playability. However, the course opened at 8:30am and, although conditions turned gusty and far from ideal for meaningful golf, the course held up well enough for play to proceed.

Despite the challenging weather, there were some very respectable scores among the 22 intrepid seniors who took part. Leading the way were partners-in-crime Trevor Pretty and Nigel Osborne, who both played to around their handicaps to claim the overall prize and Division Two honours. Very well done to both.

Malcolm Barrett topped Division One with a creditable 34 points, while many competitors were more than happy to seek the warmth and shelter of the clubhouse after what could only be described as decidedly un-golfing weather.

No birdie twos were recorded. Our thanks, as always, go to Competition Guru Nigel Osborne for counting them back.

Next week sees a 3-2-1 competition – we look forward to seeing everyone there.